Honestly speaking, I had expected to wake up inside a wooden casket this time, or at least, in a morgue. I just can't believe that my luck hadn't run out yet, considering the number of times I'd been resurrected from the brink of death in the last 48 hours. And so this is why I was kinda taken aback when I opened my eyes to my surroundings.
I wasn't stuck in a coffin, nor in a cold, lifeless metal drawer. In fact, I was in a place that couldn't possibly exist on the face of Earth. It was sort of like, a supernatural dimension―dark, immense and complete―and within, I sensed a trace of foreboding, as if there was some omniscient being guarding the place, forbidding any outsiders from trespassing.
Want to know what the weirder part was? When I looked down, I saw nothing but an infinite, never-ending darkness that stretched on for God-knows-how-long. I felt like Gandalf as he fell from the Bridge of Khazad-Dȗm, except that I wasn't falling right now. Not in the way that I'm aware of, anyway. I had a feeling that this entire...setting might just be an illusion to trick me, and I wasn't about to fall for that just yet.
I took a step forward, half-expecting to tumble into the immeasurable abyss beneath, but nothing happened. My foot came in contact with firm ground, although I was dead sure my eyes saw nothing but air. This...glass, or whatever it is, ain't no normal crystal at all, for its transparency was just...phenomenal.
And suddenly my fuzzy mind registered something. I was walking! Not with Phil controlling my legs and driving me forwards, but me, all by myself. The feeling was so incredible that I almost would have launched into a sassy hip-shaking Salsa if not for the ominous atmosphere. For the meantime, I think I'll just resort to relishing my reinstatement as the rightful 'Governor and Controller of Jarod Wickernham's Body'.
Just when I was dreading that the darkness was absolute, there was a flash in the distance. It was like a star blinking awake in the night sky, or like a tiny speck of light appearing at the end of a tunnel.
Wait a minute. I froze. I'm not actually in a tunnel, am I? I have heard quite a number of 'Light in the Tunnel' stories, and most of it ended in very loud 'chomp-chomp-chomp' noises and ghastly squashing of bodies. I had absolutely no interest in continuing the horrible series.
For a few suspenseful moments, I kept completely still and listened to any hints that might suggest there's an approaching train. The slightest rustle of the wind, the faintest blasts of a train horn, the enlarging headlights of a speeding train...
Nothing. I heard and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Don't let paranoia get the better of you, Jarod. I chastised myself. Taking a deep breath, I started striding quickly but cautiously towards the source of the light.
I didn't dare to run. The glass supporting me might be bulletproof-strong, but I wasn't about to test its limits just yet. As much as this experience was feeling incredibly surreal to me, I had no intention in missing a step because of my over-hastiness. Skydiving without a parachute didn't seem like a graceful way to die. Or space-diving. Whatever. All I knew was that I calculated every step, made sure I had my balance before stepping forwards, all the way until I reached the light source.
Oh, and did I mention I was terrified of heights?
As I got closer to the light source, I realized, with a start, that the glaring light was being emitted from a spherical orb that was floating mid-air. There was something magical about this; I could almost hear Hedwig's Theme playing on a xylophone in the background.
The orb wasn't that large, just the size of those ordinary fence lights you see in ordinary terrace houses. But, like those fancy gyrating glitter balls in discos, it seemed to be rotating smoothly along its axis. I gazed at it for a good long while, and I felt my soul captivated by this preternatural...creature. It reminded me of the Palantír of Orthanc. I closed my eyes appreciatively.
"Enchanting, isn't it?" A voice rang out.
My eyes flew wide open. I glanced frantically around, trying to pinpoint the location of the speaker. Finally, I saw him, standing directly opposite me on the other side of the orb. It was a hooded guy.
Why is it that everybody I meet for the first time must come wrapped up in a hood like a freshly baked baguette?
"Who are you?" I narrowed my eyes. And don't say, 'Jarod, I'm your father' 'cause that's a cheesy old line that seriously lacks creativity.
The guy removed his hood. Oh. I reared back in mild surprise. It was the middle-aged man I saw right after I was tranquilized by Lenny―his turquoise eyes and crooked nose were unmistakable. Yes, I remember now, he was the one who told me to 'find the puzzle'.
He smiled at my recognition. "It seems like you've found the puzzle, Jarod Wickernham. Good job."
"So," I asked tentatively. "I'm free now?"
The man nodded. "Technically, yes, you're now back in control of your body."
As inept as I was in reading between the lines, I detected the implicit message within his words. "But Phil will still be inside me," I said, almost accusingly.
"And so will I." There was something warm and reassuring in his expression as he said this, but there was also a melancholic tinge to it, as if he was reminded of a nostalgic memory from before. That piqued my curiosity.
I took a step closer to the orb. "You have me at a disadvantage. Who are you, exactly?"
The man sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He shifted his body weight onto his left feet, making his stance turned from stiff and intimidating to a more casual and approachable one. "Who do you think I am, Jarod?"
I scoffed. "How the hell would I―"
He tipped his head to one side, and his think-again-I-know-you-can-do-it look made me gulp down the 'know' word that was poised at the tip of my tongue. Folding my arms, I scrutinized the man carefully.
Truth be told, there was something in his countenance that was awfully familiar. His facial features: the thickness of his eyebrows, the angularity of his cheekbones, the way his mouth was curved slightly to the left when he smiled, and his sharp but not-too-sharp-to-be-gay jawline―they all suggested that I might have met this guy before. Not in La-la Land but in real life.
I snorted inwardly. That's as funny as it is impossible. This Obi-wan Kenobi here is old enough to be my grandpa, and I certainly would've remembered if I'd met someone as old as my grandpa.
But wait, an odd thought crossed my mind. What if he isn't as old as he looks?
The guy standing in front of me had deep, obvious creases on his forehead, and the wisps of white at the ends of his eyebrows and sideburns gave me the first-hand impression of him being in the elderly age group. Not to mention the slight wrinkle in his cheeks that was starting to sag, although infinitesimally. I tried picturing him without all these ageing signs, and―oh my God.
He looked precisely like Leonard Albright Mascon.
Well, without the broken nose, that's it. My point is, I had found the real Lenny. Or he had found me.
"You're Leonard Albright Mascon," I said finally, my voice surprisingly calm and composed. Way to go, Jarod. You've just become best buddies with Captain Obvious.
"Glad to be of acquaintance, Jarod Wickernham." He bowed with a flourish. "Please, call me Lenny."
"Jarod." I gave him a curt nod. First name basis already. The pretender must have done his research well, for he had the 'friendly' part covered flawlessly.
"So, you're not dead too, I hope?" I asked, trying to make sense of what was happening.
Lenny chuckled as he shook his head. "Oh, I'm afraid I am. Very dead, I'm sure of it."
I felt like the air had been punched out from me. "What?" I frowned, flummoxed. "If you're dead, then...where the fuck am I? Am I d...dea―"
I just couldn't bring my tongue to enunciate the word, but thankfully Lenny saved me from that. With two large strides, he crossed over to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, but didn't pull away.
"Trust me, son, you're very much alive, and I promise that I would try my very best to keep you that way." Lenny looked me in the eye, and within the piercing gaze I realized there was something deeper. Something that reminded me of my dad. I guess it was this combination of sternness and compassion that kept me from punching this old man in the face and shout, "I'm not your son, you paedophile!"
Lenny had his face angled to one side as he gauged my response to his words. I sighed resolutely. "Okay, fair enough. So why are we here?" I gesticulated wildly at...nowhere in particular.
Lenny smiled grimly. "We're here because I believe it's time to end this―what I've started, this atrocity―once and for all. And you are gonna help me end it."
"This entire put-A-in-a-coma-so-I-can-grab-B's-mind-and-stuff-it-in-A's-head project?" I shrugged. "Yeah, that's pretty atrocious, not to mention sick, vile, inhumane―"
Noticing Lenny wince, I realized this repulsive...turpitude couldn't have hurt my moral conscience more than it hurt his, so I stopped. "Sorry." I mouthed.
When he spoke again, Lenny's voice was husky but filled with conviction. "You're right. It's despicable. But I'm here to right the wrong I've made, and I hope you're with me." He glanced at me expectantly.
Well, given the circumstances (dark, with no clue where the exit was), I didn't exactly have a choice, did I? But again, there was something in this Lenny that made my instincts want to trust him. That 'something' told me that he wasn't fully responsible for the atrocities involved in the commencement of his experiment. At the end, I gave a small but perceptible nod.
Lenny acknowledged my nod with an approving pat on my shoulder. "Okay, so the first thing we gotta do is to level the playing field―it's time for you to grasp the whole picture of what and whom you're dealing with."
"And how are we gonna do that?"
"By using―" Lenny pointed at the floating orb of light. "―this."
Oh. So that's what Saruman's ball is for. An information transferring device. Interesting.
"So we're just gonna what, pray to this thing? Utter some fancy gobbledygook and get transported through time?" I asked, smiling sweetly.
Lenny was oblivious at my attempt at sarcasm. "No," He frowned, as if I'd just given the wrong answer to a simple maths question. "We put our hands on it."
"Sounds simple enough."
"Come on." Lenny ushered me towards the glowing sphere. He held out a hand and glanced at me, his face impassive. "Ready when you are."
I took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing." I murmured as we both pressed our hands simultaneously onto the Orb of Enlightenment.
The moment my hand came in contact with the glass orb, the sensory receptors in my palm had barely registered the coolness of this mysterious material when my entire world burst into flames. It was as if the orb had burst apart like an atomic bomb, releasing the immense amounts of light inside it in one instantaneous split second. Instinctively, I shut my eyes, shielding my sensitive retinas from the unexpected blitz attack by the Light Army.
Fuck. I thought. He tricked me. Lenny tricked me. And I fell for it gullibly.
Lenny must have been reading my mind, for his voice rang out beside me. "Relax, Jarod. Give your eyes a few moments to acclimatize; it's the same thing you do when you come out from your bedroom in the early morning and step into your brightly-lit kitchen―close your eyes for a while, allow your pupils to contract sufficiently before..."
"...opening them again." I finished his sentence for him, and at the same time, lifted my eyelids slowly. "Thanks for the Biology lesson, Lenny."
We were standing in the middle of a bright room. Well, 'room' was an understatement, for it was enormous―stretched out from one end to another, was almost half a hundred yards of newly-furnished concrete. It was nearly the size of four tennis courts combined in a square. There were quite a few spotlights arranged systematically along the walls, and thanks to the impeccable whitewash, the entire room was so thoroughly illuminated to the point that it was rather glaring.
A slight notion of déjà vu crawled under my skin. My gut was telling me there was something familiar about this room. It felt like I've been here before.
Then it hit me. This was the Athena Lab. Lenny's private underground state-of-the-art laboratory. But where were all the fancy-looking lab equipment that were here the last time I came? This place was completely empty.
"You're looking the wrong way, Jarod." I felt Lenny's other hand tapping my shoulder. Being extra careful not to let my right hand break contact with the orb (yes, we were still touching it), I turned around.
Contrary to what I said about this place being 'completely empty', there was a heavy-looking rectangular metal table a few steps away from where Lenny and I stood. Sitting at the table, with his hands cupped and rested on the table top, was Lenny. But this guy was different from the one who was currently sharing a ball with me (ugh, that sounded so wrong). Based on what I saw, this was the younger version of Lenny. The one John Doe from the Mustang was trying so hard to impersonate.
"So we're...looking into your memories?" I asked. This was like the flashback to Phil's heart-rending memories in Kandahar.
"Yep." Lenny nodded, his monosyllabic response a cue for me to 'pay attention and stop asking silly questions'. I took the cue and shut up.
A few moments later, the heavy oak door groaned open, and in walked a tall, smart-looking man clad in an immaculate black business suit. Funnily enough, he was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask that concealed his face effectively. There was a portentous―threatening even―presence around him. I frowned, trying to figure out why, when it occurred to me that his back was impeccably straight. Like a perfect metre rule.
"The Duke," I whispered, discomfort churning in my gut.
Lenny glanced at me in surprise at my knowledge, but he didn't demand an explanation. That was a good thing, for I wasn't prepared to tell him there was an imposter playing Lenny out there.
"It was in the year 1997 when I met The Duke for the first time. He was the one who volunteered to build this underground lab―" Lenny waved his free hand around. "―for LAMRAED and sponsor the purchase of any lab equipment necessary. Sounds like a Good Samaritan, huh? But of course, the terms and conditions to his seemingly genuine act of kindness was eventually brought forth."
As I watched the little drama that was unfolding right before our very eyes, I noticed The Duke slide a brown coloured file across the table.
"Inside," I heard The Duke speak, his voice robotized by what I guessed was a portable micro voice changer installed under his mask. "You'll find details for Operation Athena that you would go through meticulously, achieve full comprehension regarding every miscellaneous aspect of the operation, and execute your orders without procrastination or insubordination. Violation of the contract in any manner will lead to the automatic renunciation of the Athena Lab and whatever paraphernalia herein."
Judging by his parlance and eloquence, The Duke struck me as a legitimate lawyer who wanted a hand in the R&D department. This ain't no ordinary villain. I thought. Things are getting more and more complicated by the second.
As Lenny Junior skimmed through the contract, Lenny Senior briefed me on what was going on is his younger counterpart's mind. "I was definitely tempted; I had always dreamed of having a world-class lab, utilizing cutting-edge technology to discover mind-blowing fringe theories that make Einstein's theory of relativity look like fourth-grade algebra."
Despite the enclosed environment, The Duke whipped out a Zippo lighter and held it to his mouth, cupping it with another hand. There was a soft 'click', and the next thing I know, he was puffing on a cigarette, the smoke billowing across to Lenny Jr.'s face. The latter barely noticed.
Lenny Sr. turned to me and gave me a questioning look. "You do know about Operation Athena, don't you?"
I squirmed uncomfortably under his stare. "Uh, more or less."
"Perfect." He turned back to the drama, without even asking where I got my information. "Then you'll understand it the...tragic implications that shall follow once I agree to the Duke's offer."
Right on cue, Lenny Jr. finished reviewing (pah, I bet he skipped most of it in his impatience to have the lab to himself) the contract and smacked his signature down on the papers. "Thank you so much for coming over, sir. It's been a pleasure doing business with you." He gushed.
The Duke stood and nodded. "Once the equipment you require arrive, we'll start the Op right away. That gives you about a fortnight to prepare. Are we clear on that?"
Lenny Jr. shook his head a bit too eagerly, a stupid smile plastered on his face as he accompanied The Duke to the door.
The more I scrutinized the dreamy expression on Lenny Jr.'s face, the more I realized how different it was compared to the Lenny standing beside me. The former was naïve, ambitious and reckless, while the latter was way more matured, wise, reticent even. He must've been through a lot. I mused. But how much does it take to change a man so much?
Suddenly, I found myself wondering how Lenny had died. Was he murdered, like Dr Gordon, for insubordination? Did The Duke get tired of Lenny's skills and decided to replace him with another guy―the guy who died impersonating Lenny earlier today?
"If you're done staring at me, I believe it's time for our next stop, unless you're planning on staying in this whitewashed hangar for, oh, just about eternity." Lenny reminded drily.
I struggled to hide the blush that was creeping onto my face. Caught staring at a dead man. Golly. "Sorry," I mumbled.